Surging interest in studying liquids using the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) platform has led to the development of specialized liquid sample holders for TEM imaging of liquids. However, these specialized liquid sample holders require specialized chips that have limited dimensions and are typically not compatible with standard TEM chips and standard TEM solid sample holders. In addition, many times these devices will also require custom sealing approaches typically involving O-ring seals that limit types of liquid samples that can be analyzed. These limitations typically will raise purchase prices up to 8 times greater than standard chips and sample holders. In addition, specialized liquid sample holders typically do not address a well-known problem of liquid sample bulging that occurs in liquid samples from gas build up in the sealed sample holders. This gas build up can distort these liquids and the holders during TEM imaging and as a result the field of view is typically poor, image resolution suffers and overall sample viewing is typically limited.
A recent innovation by the same research group has produced a System for Analysis of Surfaces of Liquids at the Liquid Vacuum Interface (SALVI) (described in issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,555,710 and progeny thereof cited above) that allow for imaging of liquid surfaces with advantages not seen in the prior art. These include vacuum compatibility and low cost fabrication which also allows multimodal analyses of the same sample by multiple analysis platforms. In addition to these advantages various additional modifications have enhanced the capability of the original design. The present description provides a sample holder device that enables TEM imaging to be transmitted through the sample. These TEM liquid sample holders are compatible with standard TEM chips and TEM sample holders and can eliminate the need for specialized liquid sample holders and chips. These sample holders enable multimodal analyses of the same liquid samples utilizing multiple instrument platforms, and have a lower fabrication cost. This improved system and device provide for better results with lower costs and are another advancement in the development of improved sample processing technologies.